August Writing, Day 1: Tack Strip Work Song
My second year of participation in august_writing kicks off with a set of song lyrics.
First, a note on what inspired these lyrics. Today was my family's first day of remodeling work on the new house we're moving into soon. We're changing the flooring in most of the house from carpet to Pergo, so we had to remove not only the carpet, but also the tack strips that hold the carpet down. I spent part of the day removing the tack strips and the nails that fastened to the concrete. There's still more of this work to be done, so I decided to write a work song about the experience. I plan to use it to add rhythm to the work when I'm doing it tomorrow.
In the lyrics, each occurrence of (crack!) or (pop!) indicates a moment at which I will pull out a nail (or break a piece of wood) when I'm working and singing.
-
A pneumatic gun drove these nails in (crack!)
A pneumatic gun drove these nails in (pop!)
But I don't need no pneumatic gun
To pull these nails back out again (crack!)
A hammer or a crowbar does the trick, yeah (crack!)
A hammer or a crowbar does the trick, yeah (pop!)
I just need a lever and my own two arms
To pull these nails back out again (crack!)
The wood's in pieces on the concrete (crack!)
The wood's in pieces on the concrete (pop!)
The hammer and crowbar broke up that wood
And pulled those nails back out again (crack!)
We're gonna lay boards on the concrete (crack!)
Shiny new boards on the concrete (pop!)
The new floor's comin' so we gotta kneel down
And pull these nails back out again (crack!)
First, a note on what inspired these lyrics. Today was my family's first day of remodeling work on the new house we're moving into soon. We're changing the flooring in most of the house from carpet to Pergo, so we had to remove not only the carpet, but also the tack strips that hold the carpet down. I spent part of the day removing the tack strips and the nails that fastened to the concrete. There's still more of this work to be done, so I decided to write a work song about the experience. I plan to use it to add rhythm to the work when I'm doing it tomorrow.
In the lyrics, each occurrence of (crack!) or (pop!) indicates a moment at which I will pull out a nail (or break a piece of wood) when I'm working and singing.
-
A pneumatic gun drove these nails in (crack!)
A pneumatic gun drove these nails in (pop!)
But I don't need no pneumatic gun
To pull these nails back out again (crack!)
A hammer or a crowbar does the trick, yeah (crack!)
A hammer or a crowbar does the trick, yeah (pop!)
I just need a lever and my own two arms
To pull these nails back out again (crack!)
The wood's in pieces on the concrete (crack!)
The wood's in pieces on the concrete (pop!)
The hammer and crowbar broke up that wood
And pulled those nails back out again (crack!)
We're gonna lay boards on the concrete (crack!)
Shiny new boards on the concrete (pop!)
The new floor's comin' so we gotta kneel down
And pull these nails back out again (crack!)